[food] wild mushroom risotto

I was contacted by one of the readers who requested that I post an entry on the making of risotto (okay.. it was my cousin who whatsapped me.. haha) I've been wanting to try and make wild mushroom risottos for ages, what a perfect opportunity to experiment!

What was used:

1. Arborio rice (do not wash- to retain the starchiness)

2. Chicken stock

3. Salt

4. Pepper

5. White wine

6. Thyme

7. Shallot

8. Parmesan 

9. Garlic (optional- for the mushrooms)

10. The mushrooms: (doesn't have to be these, can be any variety)

            1) Shitake mushroom

            2) Porcini mushroom (not necessary) only a handful

            3) Beech mushroom

            4) White button mushroom

            5) Oyster mushroom

11. Other useful ingredient (Truffle flavour)

Truffle oil OR Truffle Salt OR Truffle (summer in this case)

Steps: (lots of stirring!)

Preparation

The Mushrooms:

1. Gently rinse and soak the porcini mushrooms.

2. Chop all mushrooms to about the same size, so that they cook evenly.

3. The Cheese: Grate most of it finely, shave other parts for garnish.
4. Chop the shallots finely

Cooking

4. Add some olive oil to the pan, add shallot, stir.
5. Add the arborio rice (I added about 1.5 cups), stir.
6. Add the chicken stock (would be best to use homemade but I had ran out, this worked well), stir
7. Add wine, stir.

8. Keeps stirring the rice, add more stock in smaller increments, I did that to avoid adding too much stock at one time. stir!
9. Also added some of the water from soaking the porcini mushrooms. Stir.
10. Keep stirring to avoid the rice sticking to the pan, should take about 20 minutes to cook. (taste the rice for the hardness you want.)

11. On a separate pan, heat, add some olive oil, garlic and add all the mushroom in. 
12. Add the truffle salt (or truffle oil), pepper and a small amount of the juice (not absolutely necessary). Leave it to cook, stir when necessary.

(The stove looks something like this)

13. Cook the rice til they are al dente (or all the way through if that's how you like it)
14. Add in the mushroom, stir and fold in the sauteed mushroom.

15. Add the grated parmesan into the pan, fold in.
16. Add the parmesan in increments and fold it in the rice - repeat (&taste)
17. Once the parmesan had been added, add some thyme (or chive and apparently other herbs such as rosemary, tarragon could work too.)

18. Serve and garnish with the shaved parmesan and more thyme. 

Think it was a success for the first attempt~ enjoy~